Category Archives: Opinion

Jim’s observations and opinions on things

Madison in my Heart

Union Terrace, my favorite Madison spot. Lake Mendota in BG

I’ve been thinking about Madison a lot in the last few days. If you live under a rock or something, this is the reason why.

The photo on my left is the Union Terrace, where I’ve spent many hours. I probably would have done better on my studies at UW had I not spent so much time there, but the memories are delicious.

When I visit Wisconsin in the summertime, I always make a trip to the University to look around and hang out and have some Glory Days:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vQpW9XRiyM[/youtube]

Pointless, but fun, memories of youth. This Madison Memorial Union, however, was also the place where I learned a great deal about unions themselves. As I recall, the Union employees had/have a very strong union, and there were always fliers and whatnot lying around which explained their positions on things and their current negotiations. In fact, as I recall, the concept of “union” permeated the place.

As such, it was one of the primo places for college students to work, as there was decent pay and benefits, even if you were part-time. I remember still, how rare this was. I know I applied for various service-type jobs there but never got hired. Continue reading →

This is what globalization can “do” for you: California’s visual effects firms fading as foreign competition mounts

Hollywood visual effects: California’s visual effects firms fading as foreign competition mounts – latimes.com.

Link above to the disturbing trend among entertainment professional jobs that are racing to the bottom internationally. Here, it’s the computer whizzes that make the digital effects modern movies rely on to make any kind of money the conglomerates must have.

I was sad to see this, but not surprised, as I’ve seen it with professional writing already. With the advent of internet outsourcing, why pay someone in West L.A. $500 for a press release or something similar when you can find someone who will think it’s a bonanza to do it for $50 somewhere in India?

The situation with computer programmers and effects geniuses might even be more dire, as English facility is probably not as important a requirement as it is with, say, English writing.
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And I’m sure it’s the tip of the iceberg. What else can entertainment companies offshore for less, so that they’re more profitable at home? Legal services? Set Design? Production accounting?

Plan A would be regulations to keep these jobs in the United States, but I don’t see that happening, do you? The Corporations which control profits certainly won’t allow that to happen. Plan B would be for the cost of living and doing business to rise around the world so that it’s equal to the U.S., or lower it so that it’s equal to the cheaper costs in the rest of the world.

And I have no idea how that would ever happen, either. Thoughts?

“Living standards improve, despite tough economy” – Oh, Really?

Living standards improve, despite tough economy – USATODAY.com.

USA Today has finally abandoned even the pretension of journalistic credibility with this “article” in today’s paper.
I glanced at the headline while in Starbux earlier, and, eager to find out about my increasing fortunes, looked it up online.

What planet are these people on? Where to begin?

“The average annual income was $24,079 per person in 1980 in inflation-adjusted dollars, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data. Last year, it was $40,454 per person.”

Ummm yeah, but I assume these averages take in everybody’s income, then divide it out by population. So it’s a big fat lie to say the average person makes $40,454! Income in the U.S. has been flowing to the top brackets since 1980, so the rich are much richer but the middle and working classes have been stagnant.

“Not only has income grown, what’s less obvious is how much better a lifestyle can be bought for the same amount of money whether it’s $25,000 or $100,000.”

They go on to say how much less computer memory costs in 2011 vs. 1980 (reminder: personal computers weren’t generally available until 1984 or so, before that it was industry mainframes mainly) and to say that we own more cars and take more flights.

Let’s talk to those commuters in places like L.A. and Dallas who spend hours more in traffic jams than would have been thinkable in 1980. Let’s talk to anyone who has to go to an airport and get felt up by a TSA goon, then sit in a cramped, tiny seat and get basically dehydrated and starved before we wax jubilant about the improved standards of air travel. Continue reading →

Alfred W. McCoy: The Decline and Fall of the American Empire: Four Scenarios for the End of the American Century by 2025

LINK TO: Alfred W. McCoy: The Decline and Fall of the American Empire: Four Scenarios for the End of the American Century by 2025.

McCoy’s piece is well worth reading. It’s depressing, quite frankly, and was unsure about reposting it here, after all, it is the holiday season, and we’re supposed to be cheery and rosy-cheeked and happy and gay and all that.

Basically, in the piece, McCoy gives a few scenarios about how the end game of American dominion might/will come to an end, and quicker than we thought. Not that this is news, but still it’s like a slap in the face.

I remember my first encounter with the concepts of Peak Oil in the 90s, and walking around shell-shocked for a few days. But after that, I consciously thought about my own fuel use, and how I could reduce it if not eliminate it. A decade later, I have a very fuel-efficient car (OK, it’s not a hybrid, that’s the next car if indeed there is a next car) which I try to use only judiciously (I work from a home office). I’ve learned to love walking, biking and public transport.

Just a small illustration of change that can come internally, then builds like a wave when more and more people get the message. I’m still hopeful that Americans can somehow avoid the most horrifying of these scenarios – but it just so often seems like we’re walking off that cliff, eyes wide open, for some reason refusing to see what’s apparent to the rest of the world.

Oh, Happy Tuesday! And It’s Pearl Harbor Day – Remembering you.

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t r u t h o u t | Stop Them From Eating My Town

Link to: t r u t h o u t | Stop Them From Eating My Town.

big box

Don’t eat my town! This post from Thom Hartmann is great at really laying out, for the person who’s not an economist (c’est moi), the local economies involved in small town businesses and local banks and the symbiotic relationship between them and local consumers.
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Also great at pointing out the history of the corporate big box takeover in this country, starting with Reagan’s refusal to enforce the Sherman Antitrust Act in the 1980s, which is what led us to where we are today, with small city downtowns devastated and looming multinational chains out by the freeway – all of which hire local citizens at low wages and lower benefits – and then keep none of the money they make in the community.

Not just a screed, his post also offers remedies, from enforcing laws to ending corporate welfare, plugging tax loopholes and encouraging American entrepreneurship. This is a great read. It made me want to patronize what main street shops we still have in the town where I live (actually, there are plenty) as well as shop second hand both in person and on the internet.

How to Get Along in Tough Times – Howard Zinn

Link to Facebook posting: On Getting Along [in Tough Times] By Howard Zinn.

Howard Zinn

I really liked this posting. Calmed me down quite a bit, got to remember to take that long view, and also the view that many things are happening with people that I don’t ever hear about. Things that are positive moves in a progressive direction.

For me personally, seeing how many people voted in the recent election for Democrats, or against the Tea Party candidates from hell, even in those elections we lost are also hopeful signs. Since it’s a winner take all, even if a Republican won a seat somewhere in Texas or Illinois, it doesn’t mean that millions of progressive-thinking people didn’t vote against that person.
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I love his reminder that power depends on the obedience of others, and those others have often (in all places and all times) decided to disobey, and that when they do, the power crumbles.

I know from my own efforts over the decades now with the Gay and Lesbian movement that there are many steps forward, and many steps back. Still, the trajectory is clear, and we are lightyears beyond where we were in the days of Anita Bryant. Ah, the 70s!

It will be the same with the current crop of conservatives in this country. They are dying out – slowly – and I’m sure this scares the Jesus right out of them! By mid century, the demographics in this country will be totally different and it will no longer be such a safe place for rich white old straight men.

Strong Arm Tactics at Eric Cantor Event – highlights obesity in America, among other issues…

Tomorrow is election day. Remember to vote. When you’re making up your mind about what party to vote for, perhaps this video will help. Eric Cantor is a Republican from Virginia who ought to lose, following these shameful strong-arm tactics at one of his rallies.

This video reminded me of a number of things: civil rights disobedience, Nazis, Vietnam war protests, police brutality, excessive force, things getting out of hand, and so quickly…
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Three large cops (and one very, very large cop!) required to take down a seemingly cooperative man with gray hair. Probably a Democrat, probably protesting Cantor’s conservative positions on things.

There’s more of this to come, I’m sure. I’m sure Eric Cantor will win his seat back tomorrow. We still have time to make sure to vote for the version of America we believe in – one that, I hope, doesn’t include 400 lb. cops from tackling you and smearing your face into the concrete.

Palm Springs: Mortgage crisis may delay local recovery until 2015

Link to Desert Sun article: Mortgage crisis may delay local recovery until 2015 | mydesert.com | The Desert Sun.

pool at Ramona Villas in Palm Springs

This was a fine kettle of fish to wake up to today, front page story in our local paper about the economy not recovering for four to five more years. So “the mortgage crisis may delay local recovery until 2015.”

I had a conversation with a friend last night about crashed real estate prices. Truly, if your home is only worth half of what you paid for it, what sense does it make to keep paying the mortgage on that original, fairy tale amount?
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We talked about the possibility of valuations rising again. But it was a bubble. They won’t rise to that prior level for years and years, if ever. For the amount of a mortgage payment on a 300K condo loan out here in Palm Springs, which would be roughly $1700 or so, not counting your HOA fees and such, you can easily rent a 3 or 4 bedroom single family home in a great area, with a pool!

It’s disheartening, frustrating, maddening and a looming national disaster – as so many people are in this situation. I wonder what will happen when they all realize prices are just not ever going to go up again, to any where near those record levels? What happens when everyone walks away? Continue reading →

BBC – Newsnight: Paul Mason: Gary, Indiana: Unbroken spirit amid the ruins of the 20th Century

Link to BBC – Newsnight: Paul Mason: Gary, Indiana: Unbroken spirit amid the ruins of the 20th Century.

Derelict Theater in Gary, Indiana

If you have the time, read the story and watch the BBC video on Gary, Indiana. It’s interesting to see how this piece differs because it comes from the British media, not our own. An outside perspective on decay – surprisingly, not totally gloom and doom, there is some hope here – the high school of the arts, for example, and the idealistic teenagers who are pretty much like teens everywhere.
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Of other interest are the economic arguments on “what must be done” – government stimulus, tea party tax cuts to allow private enterprise to “create jobs” – I put that in quotes ’cause we that don’t work – but I’m also unsure of any kind of long-term benefit from government stimulus that’s not followed up by something sustaining.

You do wonder about the racial part of this. Would majority white towns be allowed to disintegrate like Gary? Maybe they already are, and we just haven’t seen the BBC pieces on them. Discuss.